Here every creed and race find an equal place is a pillar of our national identity, and for that to be true today Iin our hearts we are all Hindu, as yesterday we were all Spiritual Baptists, and tomorrow we could all be Christian or Muslim for the moments we share their observance of their high holidays.
To be truly Trinbagonian is to set aside the calls for segregation and to celebrate our oneness in each other’s pageantry and faith.
Today we share in the festival of light and it could come at no better time.
Our country yearns for peace, for safety, for hope, for happiness, and for a literal triumph of light over the darkness that permeates every facet of national life.
How fortunate then that Divali dawns upon us in all its promise and glory, not just for those of Hindu faith to renew and reaffirm their beliefs, but for all of us, this beaten nation as a whole to seek among this celebration seeds of hope to guide us past these perilous times.
We pray as one people under one flag even as our brothers and sisters of Hindu faith offer up their own prayers for a better today and a brighter tomorrow.
For there to be such a day we all must be prepared to stand together united in common cause, and where there be differences let us look past them to focus on where there be similarities.
On holidays such as these let us reaffirm our national unity and work even harder to commit ourselves to being one multi-ethnic people, and to observe and share with each other all the blessings that days such as today bring.
On behalf of all of us in the Progressive Empowerment Party i would like to wish our Hindu brothers and sisters a happy and holy Divali, and a prayer for our nation, that the lights that shine today would light a way forward for a better day for all of us.
Shubh Divali Trinidad & Tobago
Phillip Edward Alexander
Political Leader
Progressive Empowerment Party
